Netanyahu Agrees to Talks With Lebanon as Brutal Israeli Assault Risks Iran Ceasefire; Manipur Death Toll Rises to Three; Alarming Trends In Bengal's Post-SIR Voter Rolls
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Snapshot of the day
April 9, 2026
Anirudh S.K.
A day after Israel conducted brutal strikes on Lebanon and as Tehran insisted that these attacks explicitly violate the ten-point list on which its ceasefire with Washington and Tel Aviv is based, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening said he had ordered “direct negotiations” with Beirut “as soon as possible”. This came even as the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders for Beirut. He said these talks would focus on disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon, which currently do not maintain diplomatic ties. This comes after many European countries, including France, and Australia condemned the Israeli strikes on Lebanon, and US President Donald Trump asked Netanyahu in a phone call yesterday to scale back the strikes to help ensure the success of the Iran negotiations, a senior administration official said.
Lebanon has put the death toll from the Israeli attacks at over 300 and the number of injured at around 1,150. Iran had said these attacks “blatantly” violate the ceasefire, which would “carry explicit costs and STRONG responses”. Pakistan while announcing the ceasefire too had said Lebanon would be part of it, but Tel Aviv has claimed otherwise. The message from the Trump administration has been confused, with Vice President JD Vance claiming that Iranian belief stemmed from a “legitimate misunderstanding”. Vance said that “Israelis, as I understand it” had offered “to check themselves a bit in Lebanon, because they wanted to make sure our negotiation is successful”. The worst of Israel’s offensive took place on Wednesday but the AP reports that Israeli attacks have not halted; Reuters cites an Israeli official as saying that talks between Israel and Lebanon are expected to take place in D.C. next week.
Amid this mounting strain on the ceasefire between the United States and Iran – fueled by differing interpretations of its terms and Israel’s escalating bombardment in Lebanon – fresh diplomatic messages were exchanged between Washington and Tehran through Pakistan last night, as confirmed by Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh in an interview with the BBC. The exchange comes ahead of the high-stakes ceasefire talks between the US and Iran scheduled to begin this Saturday in Islamabad, where security has been tightened dramatically with authorities sealing off a three-kilometre perimeter around the luxury Serena Hotel, where both delegations are expected to meet.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who formally invited both sides to pursue talks towards a full settlement of the war, strongly condemned Israel’s “ongoing aggression against Lebanon” in a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart, Nawaf Salam. He said that “Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran and the US were being convened,” Sharif’s office added in a statement.
Sharif is reportedly likely to host separate preliminary meetings with both sides on Friday or on Saturday morning, depending on when the delegations arrive. Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar – who has played a central role in backchannel shuttle diplomacy over the course of the conflict – is expected to facilitate the formal negotiations on Saturday, although it remains unclear whether Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, will take part, Al Jazeera writes.
International coverage has prominently highlighted Pakistan’s mediatory role, with
